Breaking Freedom
by Shakuhachi Jade
Summary: Rody feels trapped inside Alma Kinan, mentally and physically. He longs to be free of his sister's hand to see the world and have experiences on his own. But first he'll have to make it past the darkness that lurks in the Kuput Forest...S3 Yaoi. HIATUS.
1. Rody's Night Out

_**Breaking Freedom**_

* * *

_A few short notes from Lizzeh:_

This fic will contain yaoi because I am an addicted fan of the cuteness of boy-on-boy fluff. However, I hate characters who are not in character, so I do my best to keep them IN character. If any happen to stray from that, feel free to tell me about it. I'm open to good criticism, so don't think you'll be hurting my feelings. (However, I can also tell a flame from a review, and you won't be cut any slack for throwing fire around. First and only warning).

I'm definitely one for the strange things, so enjoy this fic like it was actually part of Suikoden III. It's not smut, and it _will_ have a plot. I'd like to hope that all audiences will read it, but we'll see. Whatever happens, happens, ya know? (A review would be awfully nice, tho...)

I don't own the characters or the rights to Suikoden III (I do own a copy of the game and have played it completely through at least once). This is a fictional story to a fictional game, so if you think it's real then get out of your fictional little world; it's FICTION for pete's sake. Rated T because I don't know how to rate things. It could range from K to M for all I know. Depends on my mood and what I feel like writing. Enjoy the ficness, yo.

**Chapter 1**:

_Rody's Night Out_

Rody looked around Alma Kinan for the first time unconcerned with his training. He'd been stuck in this place ever since Estella decided it was time to leave home, and up until now it had been a nice place to live. Now the small magician boy wasn't so sure.

He glanced around at all of the women of Alma Kinan. Women. He'd known only women his entire life. His persona suffered a curse of feminity that he no longer thought he could fix because of them. He simply assumed he would be girly his whole life. And so what if he was girly? There was nothing wrong with that.

Was there?

If he never knew any other boys, then how _could_ he know if something was wrong? A lot of confusion swirled around Rody's head at night when he dreamed. He'd dreamt of adventures far away from Alma Kinan, sometimes seeing different types of people and cultures... Unfortunately, in those dreams, every person always ended up as a woman. He longed for an escape from this...this box, this lie!

Estella would surely have a fit if she knew he was slacking in his studies, dreaming about foreign places. She'd have him eating rotten lunch boxes like the last time Rody mentioned sleeping under a new pattern of stars. "We'll leave when I'm ready to leave," she said as she watched Rody gag and force feed himself something utterly disgusting, "After all, we still haven't found that male counterpart of Alma Kinan. Go ask the villagers again if they've heard anything. And clean up; I can't have you smelling like week old milk."

Rody sighed. He stared up at all the lush trees sheltering the small city. They were beautiful trees, _huge_ trees; trees so big they blocked out the sun... He longed to remember how the sun's rays felt on his face. He faintly remembered that as a good feeling, one to treasure, and he felt bad that he'd forgotten it. The sun was one of many things Rody had forgotten about the outside world.

Without the slightest hint she was there, Marine rushed out of a bush and tackled Rody to the ground. He coughed from all the dust that rose up around him. "Mar...ack...ine?"

"Mar_ugh_ine. Me cavegirl today! UGH UGH."

"Really?" Rody laughed. He'd met Marine when she was about three, and she still wasn't talking. Apparently all the villagers thought she would be a shy girl; however, after Rody starting showing her his small fire magic tricks, she turned into a loud-mouthed, unpredictable little nuisance. Rody still loved her, even though she was shunned by her other 'friends'. "Me Rody. Ugh. How you are dayto?"

Marine burst into a fit of childish giggles. "Hehehe...Me good, you thank. Ugh, hehe, ugh."

"Where's your mother, ugh?" Rody stood up, holding Marine in his arms.

"Momma cookies baking. Done in twenty minutes. Want some ugh?"

"I dunno... Estella says m'not supposed to eat sugars. They debalance the magic in me."

Marine raised one dark brown brow at Rody and puffed. "But that's crazy! How can you not eat sugars?"

"Easy. I just don't." Rody tried to smile, but it was hard to hold under Marine's accusing glare.

"You should tell Estella that you don't care 'bout magicks no more and you want some cookies from momma. Ugh! Tell her!"

Rody sat Marine down and patted her on the head. Silly little girl. How could she possibly understand how important his magic was to him? "Maybe later, okay? Erm..Ugh. Bring me one and we might can share it."

"Yay!" Saying that must've cheered her up because Marine skipped merrily back toward her house. Rody sighed and made a point not to come out of his house again today. He dusted himself off and slowly started his journey back.

Rody's house was on the outskirts of Alma Kinan. It was a little ways into the forest, far enough to where Rody got goosebumps if he ever went out alone at night. Even though the trees blocked out the sun, there was still a _huge_ difference in daytime and dark. At night, everything grew stoic and pitch black. Noises coming from the forest would wake Rody from nightmares of giant beatles eating him alive. He was thankful it was only about midday and he could still make out the trees.

Their log housing was very small compared to the larger versions of the actual Alma Kinan villagers. It had only one bedroom, one kitchen/living room, and one storage room. Their bathing place was deeper still into the forest - a small lagoon at the base of a tiny waterfall a mile from their house. It was perfect for showering, but one had to plan the timing accordingly, otherwise get left in the dark.

When Rody entered his house, he noticed his sister wasn't home. It felt a little odd knowing she wasn't there, but - assuming she was off showing - it was nothing new. She was never too far from Rody because there was always something he was doing wrong. That was just the way of it with Masters and Apprentices.

Rody settled for heating himself some tea at the fireplace. He reached back and pulled loose the band holding his hair up while he waited. It fell in dark waves down a little below his shoulders. According to Estella, he was never supposed to let it fall down. If he always kept it up, it was a show of discipline and control (not to mention it made him look a little bit more like a boy). Still, Rody loved his hair. He stood up and went to their bedroom. There was a medium sized pan in the floor filled with water, and he used that to look in like a mirror. Real mirrors were too expensive in Alma Kinan. The only one in the village was hanging in the inn, and it was always swarmed by the children. Rody's reflection showed a sad, worn out femme-boy with dirty clothing and an ugly frown on a pretty face. He splashed the water and went back to the main room just as the door opened.

"Rody, dearest, did you put me on some tea while I was gone? Oh, your such a doll."

Fumbling with his hair - and thankful Estella was so glad about the tea that she hadn't noticed it was down - Rody made a mad dash across the room to pour his sister some tea. His own mouth felt dry, but if it would keep her shut up about training just for this one time it would be worth it. Wasn't like he was going to get any of that tea now anyway.

"Have you practiced your water magic yet today?" Estella asked. She took the steaming cup and held it gingerly in one hand while she stared at Rody expectantly.

"No, Estella. Not yet. I was going to wait until tom---"

"What! Wait? With _training_? Are you out of your loonly little mind, boy! There is no time to be wasting! You're already too far behind in your earth magic, and now this! I'm ashamed, Rody."

"Wait! Please, I made plenty of progress with my lightning magic yesterday..."

"Yes, but you still have major weaknesses. Waiting; pha! I hope I don't ever hear those words come out of your mouth ever again. It's bad enough you can't learn at the snail's pace I set you, much less when you slack off."

"I'm sorry..."

"You should be. Now. As punishment, you are to go to the waterfall and sit under it for an entire day meditating. And by entire day I mean you start _this intant_."

Rody's mouth fell open. "B-but it gets dark soon!"

Estella only grinned like the wicked sister she was. "I know. That will be part of the challenge. Now, off with you before I change my mind and make it two days. Go!"

Rody dashed out of the house with a heavy chain on his heart. That was another thing that had always been the same way: Estella. She never wanted to just stop and take a look at the simple things with Rody. She always had training on her mind, and sometimes Rody thought she might be taking it too far. He was too scared of her to ever say anything. And she was right most of the time anyway. He was showing weakness by feeling sad right now!

Rody ran through the forest shrubbery and tried very hard to stop the hot tears painting his face. But it was no use. They rolled down his cheeks regardless. Why was he so girly? Why was his training so hard? Why couldn't he just have a normal sister who wanted to do sibling things every now and then?

The forest grew darker. The noises Rody heard in his nightmares were starting to sound all too real. _Things_ started slithering in and out of black niches in trees, from under logs, and behind boulders. He tripped more than once, and felt his heart beat faster each time. He knew that most of this had to be his imagination, right? Forests weren't this scary.

But wait...where was the waterfall? Shouldn't it be right there, behind those rocks? And where was the path that led to the waterfall? Wasn't it supposed to be right there, under Rody's feet? The sudden realization that he was lost hit Rody like a blacksmith's hammer.

He could literally feel the darkness coming in all around him. He wanted to scream but he coudn't find his voice. His feet were rooted to that one spot, glued to the ground he knew was solid. All he could do was stand there and watch in horror as the light grew thinner and thinner, until he was left in a sea of black.


	2. A Chilling Experience

**Chapter 2:**

_A Chilling Experience_

Rody was paralyzed, petrified. It wasn't just any darkness he was afraid of, but this dark in particular. It almost seemed as though this darkness were _alive_, seething and moving about like an animal.

It also seemed like the darkness around Rody could sense that he was afraid. Rody tried to tell himself firmly that that thought was preposterous, but he could feel his own fear clouding his judgement. The darkness was watching him. His rationality was slipping farther and farther away. Something was going to happen, whether it be passing out in the Kuput Forest, or using some bizzare spell that sent him halfway to Grassland, Rody was about to do _something_. He could literally feel the tension.

To his surprise, the one thing he actually did was calm down. He looked around and the fear was suddenly gone. He even thought he knew where he was. The sound of water wasn't too far off, and he thought he could see the worn ground of a pathway not four feet in front of him. He shivered, though. That fear had been there vividly and then disappeared all too quickly. It hadn't been a natural fear.

Rody pushed back the winding vines blocking the pathway. Everything was as black as black could be, but the forest was placid now, still and untouched like the water in the pan had been before Rody splashed it. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, so it wasn't as hard to see his own nose now. Once he was back on the pathway he could tell which direction he needed to go, and he could still hear the waterfall. It was louder now than before, and he was getting closer.

The lagoon was one of the only places in the entire forest that moonlight shone through. There were no trees to block out the moon above the water, so there was some form of light for Rody to see. The water was always freezing cold, crystal clear, and it reflected the stars shining brightly in the velvet black sky. It was an exotic and romantic place to be at night, and Rody found that he might could draw up the courage to come here more often. The forest didn't seem as bad with something so beautiful nestled right in the middle of it.

He sighed as he approached the pool. It wasn't extremely big; he could easily paddle from one side to the other in under a minute, and he wasn't that good of a swimmer. That was one of the reasons his sister thought his water magic was so lacking. Rody never showed her how much enjoyed the water. The truth of it was that Rody was really very talented at water magic. His sister just couldn't see it.

Rody pulled off his dirty cloak and let it soak in the water. He knew he was supposed to be meditating under the pressure of the waterfall, but right now he didn't care. He'd just been scared out of his mind and thought he deserved a little bit of a break for that reason alone. (That was disregarding the fact that he felt slightly rebelious, too...) He smiled at his moonlit reflection in the water. No, Rody didn't want to change himself. He liked who he was, long hair and all. He pulled the band free again and let the black waves fall just to reassure himself. He then pulled off his shirt and started to wash it also. His reflection faded with the ripples in the pool.

After stringing a thick vine from two trees and hanging his clothes up to dry, he figured it was about time to actually start training. The moon was still high in the sky, floating above the trees. Rody dipped one hand back in the water and pulled it out quickly. The water was still freezing, as always. He sighed. Estella would know, somehow, if he didn't get this done. He didn't want to, but he had to.

He started in the shallow waters and slowly walked into the icy waterpool. His teeth were chattering just standing waist deep, and he wasn't even under the waterfall yet! He gritted his teeth together and forced them to stop shaking, took a deep breath and - with some much appreciated self-discipline - dunked himself under. He swam toward the waterfall using every bit of will power in his body. He could feel his hands and feet going numb after only a few minutes, but still he sat upon the rocks and let the waterfall beat against his shoulders. He closed his eyes. Everything was going cold... He was starting to drift off somewhere. But that was normal; he always drifted while training, right?

Rody was so numb and unaware now that he didn't notice he was shaking violently. He was growing weaker and weaker from the cold, his body temperature dropping at a rapid pace. And awaken he did not. He eventually grew so weak that the water falling across his shoulders pushed him forward, face down in the water. That was the last thing Rody remembered: a hot pain in his cold body when he tried to breathe. He couldn't breathe. Everything turned to black as he slipped from consciousness.

Rody was delusional when he awoke - in that comatose state when you're not really asleep, but not really awake either. His vision was blurry and the darkness was swimming as though he were back underwater.

Water... He remembered the water and suddenly started coughing and choking. Blurry - everything was much too blurry for him to see where he was. All he could do was roll over on his stomach and try to catch his breath. The slight motion made him feel extremely sick. His stomach heaved and he collapsed, gasping like a fish. He knew it must've been a comical sight looking from someone else's point of view. He would be laughing at himself if he didn't feel so bad.

His thoughts were brought to life when a low, hollow laughter sounded just behind Rody. His gasps were silenced and got stuck in his throat. The laughter only grew louder. Rody could feel his teeth chattering now, and he was starting to feel how cold he really was. That didn't matter though. Who or _what_ was laughing at him?

Rody wouldn't know. He was too weak to even lift his head up, much less get up and take a look around. But he knew he was safe. He determined that if the person/thing laughing at him had intended to kill him, then they could've just left him in the water to drown. Whoever it was had, instead, saved his life. Rody couldn't imagine why, but he was thankful. He let his breath flow back to him in long, slow intervals. In turn, this slow breathing made him pass out again. The low laughter lulled him into a dream as his world once again turned black.

* * *

Rody was about seven. He was playing in the grassland fields with a Karayan boy his age. It was blissful, and carefree; just a whimsical day playing on the plains. Suddenly - 

Fire. Pain. Death.

Rody was ten, now. He was running up and down the streets of Zexen with a mob of children his age chasing behind him. They'd been playing hide and seek, and Rody had been "it," only now he'd found everyone. They were all chasing him. Chasing.

They changed, grew up into knights with swords chasing Rody away, calling him names like Misfit, Loser, Ignorant Girl-Boy. More pain. More Death.

Rody was himself, age fourteen. He was sitting in the Kuput Forest, his heart pounding faster and faster in his chest. His nerves were wracked and completely hay-wired. He could feel his pulse throbbing, pounding drum beats in his head. Rough hands trailed the back of his neck, touched and caressed the soft spots behind his raven hair. Cold, deep laughter tickled his ears. His breathing grew faster.

And suddenly...he was drowning.

* * *

Rody inhaled sharply as his eyes opened and refocused to a candle-lit inn room. Estella was sitting beside him, frowning thoughtfully. Her eyes were angry, but misty enough to show that she _had been_ worried. Now she was very obviously upset. 

"It's about time you woke up. I take it you learned your lesson?"Her legs were crossed, but she tapped one foot absently in the air. Rody stared at her blankly. "Must I spell it out for you?" Rody still stared, too sleepy to really hear what she was yelling at him over. "_Never_ neglect your powers, especially when they're as pitiful as yours. _Never_ try to accomplish more than you know you can, like you did last night. I should have you doing overtime just for that alone. And _NEVER_ scare me to death like that ever ever again! Do you hear me, Rody? I don't know what I'd do if... Nevermind. Just listen to what I've said and remember it well, all right? Now, back to bed with you."

Rody felt too tired to say anything, so he simply nodded and watched her leave the room. Estella wasn't that mad. He'd seen her far worse when he'd done things less stupid. But he hadn't tried to do something he knew he couldn't do. Well, maybe he did, but he'd only been doing what she told him to. It wasn't like...

He could feel a headache coming on. Now wasn't the time to think about Estella or magic. Now was a time to rest, and regain his strength.

Rody had determined one thing - he had to go back into that forest. And he had to find out who or what it was that had saved him. He wanted to thank them for their kindness, or at least tell them he was grateful. He had a feeling that if he did go back, he would meet his savior once again, whether he wanted to or not.

Closing his eyes, Rody found himself smiling. Besides Marine and his sister, he didn't really have any close friends to talk to. He'd been brought up alone by Estella his entire life. Maybe...

This time Rody dreamt of someone who was always covered in shadows, who he kept secret from his sister, and who showed him that there was more to life than just magic.

It's too bad he remembered none of it when he woke up.

* * *

-small sigh- Well... Nothing to say on that note. I wait three days and still get not a half of a review? Pushaa. I'm not discouraged in the least. The story hasn't even got going yet! Wait 'till this gets started. Then you'll be begging me for more. -crosses fingers- (Hopefully... Review this time, please?) 


	3. Conversations

**WARNING:** _This chapter contains some mild yuri. Just skip over the last five paragraphs if you absolutely can't stand it. _

_Thanks to the three people who reviewed! I was going to post anyway, but you inspired me to get it sooner. I really appreciate the enthusiasm. _

**Chapter 3:**

_Conversations_

Marine was the first one to find Rody, shivering and pale as a ghost just outside Alma Kinan. Being a little girl, she didn't exactly know what she should do, so she immediately ran home to tell her mother. After the Kinanians had him recovering at the inn, she waited outside all day long, and when Estella finally came out, she told Marine, "Go find some toys to play with, little girl. Rody needs his rest."

Marine stuck her tongue out at the mean ugly girl and stamped her foot. "I'm not leaving until I can see Rody. UGH!"

Estella scrunched up her nose in disgust. "Ugh, indeed." The pink haired girl headed back toward her home without a second glance at the child, but Marine stayed true to her word. She sat outside for the rest of the day and far into the night waiting for Rody. She'd fallen asleep by morning with a grumbling stomach.

Rody yawned and stretched as he looked around the room. The dim natural lighting meant that it was morning. He hated knowing that he was probably going to have to pay for what he did at the waterfall, but there were other things clouding his mind - thoughts of blank faces and fires and... They were all jumbled together, so it was hard to discern what was an idea and what was just a daydream or a nightmare. He shook his head with a grimace and got out of bed. Morning breath. Great... Now he felt groggy.

He fumbled around the room until he found his shirt, and once he was decently dressed, he decided it was best to return home. Estella would want him training and training _hard_ by at least tomorrow, if not sooner. He still had a lot of work to do on his earth magic. And his fire magic... And his magic resistance... And his - -

Rody tripped and went flying head first onto the ground, completing one full roll before he fell flat on his back. Coughing - and from lack of energy to get up - he tried to tilt his head around to see what it was he'd tripped over. He saw a small head with enormous brown eyes and thick brown hair staring him down with a look of...was that shock he could see on Marine's face?

Actually it was more like mild surprise, but Rody's imagination twisted it into something like horror.

"Marine, I'm so sorry! Honestly, I wasn't thinking about much and I... Well, actually I was thinking _too_ much, but that's not the point. I wasn't watching where I was going and I didn't see you lying there and-"

"Roooodyy," Marine whined, trying to get Rody to shut up. Sometimes the boy just rambled on and on if he got into the moment too much. She gave him a raised eyebrow and a stern glance. Rody's eyes trailed from her face and over to the left, where he saw her pointing downward at a lazy, old, wrinkled dog. Old, but snarling at Rody nonetheless. "You didn't kick _me_. He'd been sleeping until you decided to kick him, ugh ugh."

Rody bowed his head and sighed heavily. When he looked up again, he thought several minutes must've passed because Marine had stepped closer to him and was eyeing him with a worried expression. The dog was a little ways off from the inn steps, sleeping in the shadows now. "I'm sorry. I didn't kick him. Um, not on purpose anyway... Sorry."

"Stop that!" Marine tried to stand up taller in front of Rody.

"Stop what?"

"Stop being sorry all the time! You're not sorry. You're great. So stop saying that."

"Oh..." Rody blinked, and then said out of habit, "Sorry."

Marine's voice took on a warning tone, "Rody..."

"Okay, okay. I'll stop." He smiled sweetly at the girl, and then realized he could've been home by then. His dark eyes widened and he took off in the other direction as fast as a barefooted rabbit on a hot grill in the middle of... "I'll talk with you later, Marine! I've got training to do! Bye!"

Marine stood there and pouted. She sniffled and rubbed at her eyes, and wondered why in the world she felt sad. But...she did know. Rody _always_ had training. She never got to spend any time with the older boy - not anymore. He was the _only_ boy she _ever_ got spend time with, and if she had her way she'd see him every second of every day.

But she didn't have her way and Rody wasn't turning around, so she watched him go with red eyes and a knot in her tiny little stomach. Then she turned on her heel and headed back home for breakfast.

/V\/V\/V\/V\/V\/V\/V\/V\

Yuiri slammed the cabin door open, and then she slammed it shut again once she was inside and kicking her boots off in a most aggresive manner. "That does it!" she screamed, "That's _it_, Yumi! I've had it with that wench's damn lies and broken promises! We've allowed Rody to stay this long, but how much longer until...you know! _It _happens!"

Yumi peeked her head into the main room from the kitchen where she was fixing dinner. "Yuiri, do you realize you're yelling very loudly? Again?" Her voice was a humble four notches lower than Yuiri's.

"Yes, dammit, I realize I'm yelling very loudly! And with damn good reason, too! I'm sending her back out of Alma Kinan tonight! I absolutely won't let that bitch stay another hour in our village!"

Yumi sighed. For the past three weeks Yuiri has boasted about how she's been trying to get Estella and Rody put out of the village for good. Three weeks, and the amazon-grasslander had tried everything in the book to get them to leave. From simply asking politely that they left to actually accusing them of committing a crime to get them literally kicked out, Yuiri's agenda consisted of nothing but plans to get rid of the magician siblings. "Have you tried asking them again?"

"YES I'VE TRIED ASKING! THAT'S WHAT I'M SO UPSET ABOUT!"

Yumi blinked. "Oh my... Yuiri, please sit down and stop screaming. I'm sure it wasn't nearly as bad as you're making it out to be--"

"Shut up, Yumi. Just please, _please_ be quiet…" Yuiri glared at her friend for a moment, but after she was satisfied that Yumi was not going to speak anymore, she did exactly what she was told. She sat down on the nearest bench and took a few very deep breaths.

Yumi slid quietly back into the kitchen to finish her cooking - a nice fish fillet with Karayan spices and fresh soy sauce from the Duck Village; a rare treat for someone whose diet contained mostly berries and forest animals. She'd just got back from the market when she realized she'd forgotten the mayonaise, so she had to make _another_ round trip out. Since she'd already wasted a full day, she decided to treat herself and Yuiri to something nice. She mentally gave herself thanks for doing that. Yuiri definitely needed some cheering up.

What was bothering her so much? The only thing keeping Estella in Alma Kinan was the fact that she claimed there was a vice versa version of the village, made up entirely of men. Everyone - even her own Rody - thought this was a pile of dog poo, but she claimed she could have proof of the alternate village if she had just six months to get it. Three weeks of slaving for nothing; if Yuiri could just calm down and stop worrying for a few more days, Estella and Rody would be sent away the next week. There was no way the woman could find proof of something that everybody knew did not exist. After all, she hasn't so far.

There was always the off chance that the All-Male Alma Kinan _did_ exist, and Estella _would_ find proof of it over the next few days. If that happened Yuiri would be tearing her hair out. Estella would be allowed to stay even _longer_ in Alma Kinan to conduct even _more_ research, and no one wanted that. Yumi was a little curious about why Yuiri hated Estella so much, besides the fact that she brought her brother with her to Alma Kinan. Their city was sacred because no males took residence in it. They were free to come and go, so long as they did not stay too long, but Estella had insisted they were staying quite a while to research Alter-Kinan. The Kinanian chieftess would not allow them access to the inn, but she did allow them property very close to the village walls. She allowed them to live that near, too near.

A few months after their cabin was built and they were officially living in the Kuput Forest, signs started to show up - signs that the village's sacred values were being tainted. Game grew scarce. Flowers would no longer grow near the shrine. Berries came up poisonous if they were near the village. Everyone could see things changing, even Estella.

But, since the chieftess had agreed the pink haired girl could stay, there was no changing what could not be unsaid. The Alma Kinan women were known amongst themselves as an honest, loyal group. They weren't about to break their own word, even for the sake of their beloved village. So they put up with plague for almost half a year.

Maybe that was why Yuiri was so upset. Maybe it was because her village was being corrupted by something she had the power to physically stop. It must be driving her mad having to sit back and watch her village's power wither away because of a fourteen-year-old boy. All she really had to do was take an arrow to...

Yumi cleared her throat. _That_ train of thought definitely needed to be derailed. She looked down at her fish and wanted to scream as loud as Yuiri had. Burnt black and crispy and stuck to the bottom of the pan. She sighed again. Oh well. So much for mood lifting.

"Yumi!" Yuiri yelled. She sounded frustrated, although not quite as mad as before.

"What is it?" Yumi asked, looking back into the main living room.

"I've been yelling for you for five minutes!" Her frown and the growl in her voice faded after she paused for a second, searching for the right words. "I need to talk to you. Right now."

Yumi looked back toward her ruined fish and shook her head. She told herself to forget about that, and walked into the room. She took a seat right next to Yuiri on the bench. "Yes?"

"Rody...You know what will happen if he...he..."

Yumi's eyebrows knitted together and she finished Yuiri's sentence: "...takes a flower from our garden?" Yuiri nodded grimly at the well-placed metaphor. "You're absolutely right - I know what will happen. But I also know that Rody seems like a good boy. His sister keeps him so busy he doesn't even have time for that. Surely he wouldn't _dream_ of--"

"That's just it. We don't _know_ what he's dreaming of. What if he is? What if his screwed up little teenage mind has already conjured up a way to get to one of our girls?"

"Well... Then we'll just have to keep an eye out. He's only got a few more days here, Yuiri. It's not like he's been planning something for six months. It's like you said - he's a teenager. He's got too many other things on his mind to be worrying about...that."

"But... He's a _boy_, Yumi, a teenage _boy_." Yuiri sighed and ran her fingers through her short, cropped brown hair. "A stupid little boy with a bitch for a sister..."

"That reminds me," Yumi interrupted, "I was hoping you'd tell me what has you all up in a tizzy with Estella."

Yuiri looked up at her friend darkly. "She's just overstayed her welcome, that's all."

Yumi shook her head. "No, somehow I think there's been something more said between you two."

"It's nothing!"

Yumi placed her hand on Yuiri's shoulder, but the older girl jerked it away. Yumi looked at her sympathetically. "Tell me...? Please?"

Yuiri sighed through gritted teeth, but she looked at Yumi with sadness in her eyes. "She's a very… shallow… person. She takes everything for granted, lies and cheats..." Yumi could see the tears in her eyes now, waiting on the edge to fall down pale cheeks.

"And..."

"And... ... And she insulted me. She told me I was nothing but a...a tree-hugging, breast-licking lesbian! Okay? Now you know why I'm so fucking upset! Over a stupid, childish, name-calling quarrel!"

Yumi gasped and held her hand delicately over her mouth. So...Estella must be totally homophobic, then. Still, that was no reason to make fun of someone's sexuality in a village full of girl-girl couples. "Yuiri... Surely you didn't take her seriously. It's part of our culture here to take part in courting women, you know that. What in the world does she know? She's an _outsider_." Yuiri said nothing, staring down at the floor and crying silently. "Here," Yumi said, taking the older girl into her arms, "It's all right. Um, I had some fish for us, but I think I was distracted and...it kind of got burned..." Yuiri looked up and had the hint of a smile tugging at her sad face. "Yeah, it's the thought that counts, right?"

"Oh, you..."

Yuiri tackled Yumi and nestled her head under Yumi's chin. "Feel better now?" Yumi asked. Yuiri nodded.

"Much better..." She looked up into Yumi's eyes. The room's atmosphere changed now that both girls had talked and settled another day's conflicts. "Yumi...? Can I--?"

Yumi smiled sweetly and pressed her finger to Yuiri's lips. "Ssh. Of course you can." She paused and let Yuiri kiss her softly. She tasted of maple leaves. "You know I love you...?"

Yuiri nodded. "I do. And I love you, as well, Yumi. As my friend, and...more." They kissed again and again. Time flew by as evening turned to night - when they both realized they were kissing in the dark and quickly speeding toward doing more.

"We should retire for the night," Yumi said, breathless and more than a little nervous.

Yuiri nodded, though her eyes betrayed her. Yumi could tell she wasn't ready for sleep yet. "Bed sounds nice. I'm beat..."

"All right." Yumi sighed as she slipped into her bed. She lay awake for most of the night, worrying about things she felt she shouldn't have to worry about. _Soon, my love. _She sighed again. Her eyes felt heavy. _When all this mess has worked itself out, I will show you how I truly feel…_

* * *

Update 06/30/08: I edited this chapter a bit more, and I'm going to (hopefully) write a new chapter soon. :) Cheers!


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